Questions tagged [adjectives]
Adjectives are just one of several different types of noun modifiers, typically used to premodify or describe a noun. Do not confuse adjectives with nouns used attributively to modify other nouns. Adjectives have comparative and superlative degrees, can be used as predicate adjectives in copulae, and can themselves be modified by intensifiers and adverbs but not by other adjectives. Nouns in attribution fail all those tests.
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Should I capitalize 'western' when it anticipates 'culture'?
The following sentences are from the transcription of a BBC podcast>
In the Western culture, we have got a bit of an uphill – I would say - struggle because pre-conceptions around eating insects ...
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Comparative Adjective vs Noun; cleaner vs cleaner [duplicate]
I am curious if there is any reason that English converged to using similar suffix for both comparative adjective, and for noun. For example, as shown in the title, "cleaner" could mean both ...
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An informal term used for someone who has an affinity for American culture?
I came across the term in an online article, and it wasn't "Americanophile"
: a person who greatly admires or favors America or things from American culture
Merriam-Webster online
Is ...
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"X is less effective than y in treating the disease" or "X is less effective in treating the disease than y"?
Should it be,
"PT with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)is less effective than CT in treating anxiety"
or,
"PT with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) is less ...
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Attributive nouns in science [duplicate]
I see more and more articles in scientific journals, where attributive nouns use plural. To me they sound really strange and non-intuitive.
'materials science'
'materials design'
To me they should be '...
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Is "rid" a noun in "I want rid of him"?
The Oxford Dictionary regards rid as a verb only.
However, is rid a noun in I want rid of him?
If rid is a past participle, then, can it be followed by want?
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adjective - role
The boy felt guilty because he knew what he had done.
in this sentence the word guilty being an adjective is modifying the verb felt.
Please update if my understanding is correct
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What are adjectives for "a group that grows fast", and "a group that is comparatively static"?
The context is: I have an app where there are entries, sorted in tables. Think "Employees" and "Sales":
The "Employees" table is mostly static. It might go up or down a ...
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Is the word "lured" an adjective or verb in the sentence "I feel lured by the chance to start over again." [closed]
While I understand the verb "feel" is often followed by -ed adjectives when talking about emotional states, "lured" itself is not an adjective. So I am not sure what to make of the ...
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Can Idea + s after Endless (adj.)? [closed]
Can Idea + s come after endless (adj.)?
= Endless Ideas?
Is that correct?
Because I wonder endless should be uncountable.
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Should there be a comma between a noun and its adjective? [closed]
Can "A white paper" be written as "A paper, white"?
Can "The nine planets" be written as "The planets, nine"?
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What word could I use to describe singular defects of a surface?
My master's thesis topic is about automatically detecting defects on wood surfaces.
Whereas most research in the field is concerned about "regular" defects created by processes (such as ...
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Is there a word to describe a person who is so interested in the detail of everything? Especially a word with a positive meaning [duplicate]
I am wondering if there is a word to describe a person who is so enthusiastic about the details of a particular subject. I know the word geek. But I am wondering if there are more words to describe a ...
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Does "300-odd pages" mean "about 300 pages" or "somewhat more than 300 pages"?
I've always understood the adjective -odd used in combination to mean about, as in "She read 300-odd pages and then stopped." After reading a comment by Edwin Ashworth in another question (&...
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The word "ornamental" : is it an opinion adjective, a purpose adjective, or part of a compound noun here?
Upon reviewing my notes on the order of adjectives, I saw that "ornamental" was listed as an opinion adjective. However, wouldn't ornamental be a "purpose" or "type" ...
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Using the definite article before adjectives [closed]
It is usual to use the definite article "the" before an adjective referring to a certain group of people. My question is: can we rewrite the following sentence without "the"?
The ...
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Why is "brick" in "a brick house" a noun, whereas "plastic" in "a plastic bucket" is an adjective?
Taking these classifications from Oxford's Lexico:
plastic
brick
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Do l need a comma in this sentence?
To me, the following sentence is fine. But my colleague insists that l use a comma after the word "ancient".
Archeologists discovered a unique, long, broken, ancient (?) Egyptian bronze ...
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Can I say "the US people"?
Is it fine to describe people of the USA as "US people"?
For instance: "the US people display different cultures and traditions."
What I want to ask is that can I use the word &...
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A word for creepiness without reason? [duplicate]
What would be one word for a deep-rooted, unsettling fear at a creepy place without any particular reason, just an unfounded, instinctive and unnatural feeling that something is not right, something ...
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The opposite of reclined?
I'm aware of the difference between Prone vs. Supine vs. Prostrate, but I'm trying to find the opposite of the related word 'reclined'.
Every web or dictionary search brings up 'upright' as the ...
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Is it redundant to say something "must be necessarily..."?
Is the combined use of must be and necessarily here redundant?
Your appearance must be necessarily maintained.
I want this statement to be sardonic, so simply "Your appearance must be ...
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Why does English use the adjective structure "noun-doing" instead of "doing-noun"?
A similar question is Using the structure "noun-adjective" as a noun (e.g. "innovation-inclined"). The structure "noun-done" ("innovation-inclined") makes sense ...
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"biggest failure" versus "greatest failure" [closed]
Which one is the correct way to say it?
"War is and always remains one of the biggest human failures."
or
"War is and always remains one of the greatest human failures."
Or are ...
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What groups of entities are described by adjectives?
Is there some kind of taxonomy for adjectives depending on what entities they describe? For example, charismatic would always be descriptive of a human, tropical would (almost) always describe an ...
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Adjective for an item with an implied function that can't easily/readily be used for that function?
I watched somebody open a gift box with a custom made, massive pin badge, the sort that you would attach to clothing with a design on the front. They even said it looked like the sort of thing that ...
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An adjective or adverb meaning patterned (really or apparently) in fragments of a material that could also be used unbroken, e.g. stone
My question is best illustrated with an image:
What is a good adjective or adverb to describe that kind of pattern, which brings out that normally or perhaps ideally you would have a solid piece of ...
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Is the term “in persons’ grammatically correct [closed]
I heard the following line from the Rick and Morty TV series:
Forgive me for doing this in notes; I'm not strong enough to do it in persons.
Is it grammatically correct to use in persons instead of ...
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Is it reasonable to say 'intricate with X' in the same sense one might say 'thick with flies' or 'vast with greed'?
Most 'Y with X' forms have Y as a verb - riddled with holes, filled with joy - but there are some commonly used examples where Y is an adjective. Is that a generally accepted construction that may be ...
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Is ‘most’ for all the adjectives in this context?
Is the ‘most’ here for all the adjectives after it. Is there any general rule to be applied in such cases?
Evolution, ecology, and population biology have given us tremendous
understanding and ...
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"Cowboy" as an adjective for an object? [duplicate]
I forget what phrases it's used in, but I'm pretty sure I've heard cowboy used an adjective to describe something someone made (most likely something poorly shimmed together on the road, just good ...
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"Cowboy" as an adjective? [closed]
I forget what phrases it's used in, but I'm pretty sure I've heard cowboy used an adjective to describe something someone made (most likely something poorly shimmed together on the road, just good ...
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Is "entitled" a passive voice verb or adjective in "everyone is entitled to respect"?
Adjective or verb passive form??
In the sentence
We teach our children that everyone is entitled to respect and dignity
is 'entitled' more likely an adjective or a verb?
A similar question appeared ...
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How to separate verbs and adjectives with different prepositions when describing the same noun [duplicate]
Related to this question: When I have a phrase with two verb-plus-preposition combinations, describing the same noun, but requiring different prepositions, how should they be separated?
Not at all:
&...
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Possessive construction using 's and "of" [duplicate]
What is the difference between possessives using an apostrophe, like "God's name" and using "of," like "name of God"?
Other languages consistently use the "of" ...
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Is there a variant of "suspicious" that unambiguously indicates the subject as the actor?
Mirriam-Webster defines suspicious as:
tending to arouse suspicion
expressing or indicative of suspicion
These two definitions differ significantly in their meaning. (1) implies the subject is the ...
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The opposite of requiring a critical mass, being able to bootstrap from ground?
I am looking for an adjective for my system. I try to define the property that the system can bootstrap without requiring a critical mass of adoption. Meaning it can start functioning from zero and ...
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outsized vs. outsize
Like many, I have often come across phrases such as "outsized influence" or "outsized contribution". However, once when trying to apply this myself, it was suggested (I think it ...
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How to hyphenate this phrase [duplicate]
I know that compound adjectives like "goal-oriented" get hyphenated before a noun, but how would you deal with two sets of compound words that both end in "oriented"?
It would be ...
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Is there a term to describe someone that is neither genuine or a hypocrite?
In definition,
Hypocrisy is the practice of engaging in the same behavior or activity for which one criticizes another or the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one's ...
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"Monetary" is for "money". In this vein, what adjective is used for status?
"Monetary" is for "money". In this vein, what adjective is used for status? Context:
Nicolas Maduro abused his power for both monetary and ______ gains.
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Adjective use after nouns: with and without that-clause [closed]
Let us take a look at these adjectives:
able, similar, capable, ready, etc.
We are free to stick them to the back of any noun thus avoiding using that/who-clause, like in these examples:
Presumably, ...
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Adverbs of manner modifying adjectives
I’m confused on adverbs of manner because it seems like some can modify adjectives while other cannot. Why is this?
The book was beautifully profound.
The book was quickly profound.
The first ...
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Using the word "surgery" as an adjective [closed]
My university lecturer (for an engineering module) frequently organizes "surgery classes" where he answers any questions we might have or goes through some extra problem sheets. Essentially, ...
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What is a word or term with an opposite or complementary meaning to "flaky person"? [closed]
One good candidate would be "reliable", but I am looking for a word with more direct connotations to social behavior like flaky has.
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I'm looking for a word that best describes a person who is the chief representative for an employer, who can act as them on their behalf?
The type of person is one that would work for a shadowy figurehead and hold similar importance to outsiders as their employer. They would be the face you see and the person you would interact with, ...
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Is there an adjectival form of "alliance"?
Here's an example which demonstrates the similarity I'm looking for:
"There is a corporation of pilots conducting operations outside of their corporate airspace.".
Now, if there is instead ...
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What do you call the construction noun + "-ed" which, like an adjective, can modify another noun? [closed]
There are some words that appear to be adjectives formed from nouns inflected with something that looks like the past participle ending "-ed". Some of these are preceded (hyphenated in my ...
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What is a single word adjective that means "particularly useful"?
For a given task, like digging a hole, many things are "useful". The set of all "useful" things contains, among other things "spoon", "pencil", "saucepan ...
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What's the right adjective or noun for someone who does not trust the intelligence of another person? [closed]
Is there an adjective or a noun about being unable to trust the intelligence of another person? A doubter who refuse to believe that someone is intellectually competent?
For example, Alice refuses to ...
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